Among all the exceptional things BP 5 did was prove beyond a shadow of a doubt the viability of curved lifting foils("foil assist") in any condition. Designing a record breaking trimaran without them would be unthinkable now-when just a few years ago nobody had a clue how important they could be in both speed and seakeeping.
And the canting mast: a technological achievement proven reliable in the worst conditions on earth.
And the crew: proving that life can go on at very high speed under sail in the ocean, that the boat can be maintained at such speed and that she can be sailed around the world faster than any other vessel in history.
So many things to celebrate about this incredible boat!

(January 7, 2012) - Three and a half years after being launched in August
2008 and after her second attempt, the 131-foot maxi trimaran Banque
Populaire V has entered records' history by taking the Jules Verne Trophy
at the end of a circumnavigation of 45 days 13 hours 42 minutes 53 seconds
around the globe.

By crossing the Jules Verne Trophy start/finish line between Ushant
(France) and Lizard Point (England) at 22hrs 14 minutes 35 seconds GMT on
Friday January, 6th, Loick Peyron and thirteen crew members, including
eight rookies, have completed an unprecedented exploit, covering 29,002
miles at an average speed of 26.51 knots.

On the morning of November 22nd, the Team Banque Populaire triggered the
countdown by crossing the starting line to attack the reference time of 48
days 7 hours 44 minutes and 52 seconds held since March 2010 by Franck
Cammas and Groupama 3.

With remarkable conditions south through the Atlantic Ocean, she made her
entry into the Indian Ocean less than twelve days after kicking-off,
reaching a lead of 2,364 miles of advance, what would be the largest delta
on the entire race. Her final lead over Groupama 3 would be 1,649.30 nm. --
Read on: http://tinyurl.com/BP-010812

Brit Brian Thompson was the lone non-French member of the crew. Here are
some comments from the helmsman/trimmer:

Q: What were the high points of the voyage?
A: Seeing an iceberg as big as half of the Isle of Wight, seeing a new
comet on Christmas Day and sailing with a fantastic team!

Q: .and the lows?
A: Losing two days due to weather delays both in the Pacific and North
Atlantic and missing Christmas and New Year ashore with family and friends.

Q: Did you notice any major environmental differences this time around?
A: There was a distinct lack of birds in North Atlantic compared to rest of
the oceans and I am not sure what the reason was for this. Thankfully we
did not come across too much rubbish pollution except when passing the
coast of South America in Atlantic Ocean, which was sad to see.

BACKGROUND: The Jules Verne Trophy is a prize for the fastest
circumnavigation of the world by any type of yacht with no restrictions on
the size of the crew provided the vessel has registered with the
organization and paid an entry fee. The start/finish line is between the
Creach lighthouse on Ouessant (Ushant) Island, France, and the Lizard
Lighthouse, UK. Circumnavigate the world leaving the capes of Good Hope,
Leeuwin, and Horn to port.

In 2004 Steve Fossett sailed the Jules Verne Trophy course on the catamaran
Cheyenne, setting a circumnavigation record of 58 days 9 hours 32 minutes
45 seconds. However, he did not pay the fee to qualify for the Jules Verne
Trophy beforehand. He did try to pay the fee to be awarded the Trophy a
week before arriving but was declined. Fossett's record was acknowledged by
the World Sailing Speed Record Council, while the Jules Verne trophy was
awarded to Geronimo for its five-days slower time.

We have lived thru a golden era of max-multihull development and sailing....and much of it accomplished by France's love affair with offshore sailing challenges.

But one has to wonder how long this advancement is sustainable?

Here is an interesting perspective:

BIGGER AND FASTER ROUND THE WORLD?
How big and how fast could a design go? It's a fascinating spiral of
calculations, including money.

How long will it be before the fastest round the world record is broken
again? Could it go down to down to 40 days and be beaten by an even bigger
multihull than the 130ft Banque Populaire V? The answer to both is a
qualified yes. It's possible. But the margins are getting smaller, the
risks higher, and the huge sums needed are in shorter supply.

This round the world record time may stay for a while (set this week at 45
days 13 hours 42 minutes and 53 seconds). It is the first time in over a
decade that another potentially faster vessel has not been in build as a
record time was being broken.

Banque Populaire cost Euros 14 million to build and it took four years to
achieve the end objective. Meanwhile, running costs have been around Euros
3 million a year. So the price tag of a venture with almost exclusively
French appeal has soared to around Euros 26 million.

You have to conclude that further development is a long way off. The
cheapest way to break the record again, though, would be to use the same
boat. Given a few tweaks and a great deal of luck with the weather, as many
as two or three extra days could be gained, according to experts.

But it's a chancy game that could take several seasons. And so we're back
to that whopping Euros 3 million bill a year to run a boat capable of doing
almost nothing else.

To be honest I'm surprised they can run and maintain a boat of this calibre for 3 million euros a year that in itself is quite an achievement really. It's as useful as other top race boats it's an effective tool for winning races and setting records. Will the record be broken again the answer is YES because as humans we aspire break them and the boat to conquer that record will be built maybe not now but in the future.

===================
Is it possible Ms. Bunting is not familiar with Team Hydroptere? They are proceeding forthwith to develop, what they hope, will be a boat that can smash BP 5's record.
BP 5 has set the bar mighty high but it's always been high!

It's Pierre-Yves Moreau (aka PYM), the boat captains that explains the different systems in the cockpit. The journalist is Loic Le Bras, from Voiles et Voiliers, the biggest monthly French sailing magazine.

At 00:25, explaination on the grinders; there are 4 of them, and they can all be hooked together to work on one winch, apparently any winch... PYM shows how to do it by flipping small levers on the columns and on the winch base.
At 1:00, explainations that there are some manoeuvres, where they put 8 guys on one winch, for instance when they set up a gennaker, and a long trim in of the main sail, in a jibe.

Most of the "driving" work can be done with 4 people, one shift, or 8 people, the current shift and the standby shift, or even 10, with the skipper and the navigator on top of the 2 shifts; they usually do not have to wake up the off shift. The example at 1:20 on the video is when they were taking a reef.

At 1:40. Position of the shift. One on the helm, one sitting by him on the sheet; 2 close to the entrance of the boat; on the bench. But they don't stay seated for long, because of all the continuous small adjustments, such as, more dagger board, less foil, etc.

2:05, example of the use of a winch. The one that PYM is pointing to is for the daggerboard, foresail, and foil...

External displays: they are all pretty much the same; there are 8 of them!! Speed, wind speed, TWA, etc. They also show boat performance; from the wind angle and the wind speed, with the polar charts, they can see if they are on target for boat performance.

The helmsman has displays just in front of him; this is good by day time, but critical by night time. If you head upwind by 5 degrees, things can get hairy really fast...

At 3:10, you can see that they have displays also behind the forward beam, so the helmsman can see the waves and the data without looking anywhere else.

They then show the small spray windshield, that they quickly broke... So tehy were putting behind it a sailbag to act as a cushion. (you can see it at 3:22). They plan to use a similar system in the future, maybe a cushion, insted of a sailbag...

The journalist makes a comment about helming the boat; he had the opportunity to do it, just after they got out of the building shed; it was like driving a truck!! You got yoru workout!

PYM explains that they worked a lot to improve it. They changed, the gears, the pulleys, etc to the main rudder on the main hull (the system is chain at the wheel, and then textile to the rudder; you can see it at 4:20). It is also "hard linkage" all the way to the ama rudders.

The helmsman has no direct communication with the navigator at the navigation table. He has 2 red buttons on the side of the displays (you can see them at 4:33); one is for an alarm (siren) inside the boat, to get everybody on deck NOW! They never had to use it. The other one is for Man Over Board. The MOB button obviously track the position on the GPS, but also automatically drop one o the 2 rescue "devices" (apparently an inflatable one man "raft"; you can see it at 5:00). The system is smart enough to launch only the "upwind" raft, from the back of the rear beam...

Comment from the journalist: everything is HUGE in the cockpit! It is not the type of boat where you just climb on the traveler to take a reef. PYM's comment: we get used to it... but no, you don't climb on the main sheet traveler, to take a reef, but instead you climb on the boom...

Only breakage in the cockpit: "a small piece" on one winch, but they have had that problem before, so they knew how to quickly repair it. There is one pulley that started to make strange noises during the last jibe on the finish line; they changed it in the entrance of the Brest roadstead known as "Le Goulet". I bet they were at the dock less than one hour after that, in Brest harbour, but they still changed it. Very professional.

It's pretty good w/o translation-thanks Corley. I never noticed how far forward the ama rudders are until this video! Amazing boat...

Click to expand...

G'day cobber. Yes - a long way forward - just under the back beam. Less mechanics, more direct feel, lighter, stronger, less working parts, etc etc & I would think (what - who me) much more KISS - much less to go wrong. That'd be nice especially at 45 kts !!
Gawd - what a machine that is !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ciao & a good weekend to y'all. Ciao, james

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